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Looking for a little direction in your own reading? The Greater Boston area abounds in opportunities for adult education. Most of the local colleges and universities offer continuing education programs with many options, including various degree and certification programs, while classes at the Boston and Cambridge centers for adult education tend to be more for personal enrichment. To decide among the programs, check the catalogs for times and fees, as well as class locations and subjects. In addition, ask who will be teaching your class. Many schools have their regular faculty members teaching their night and summer classes, but many do not.

Boston Center for Adult Education (5 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, 267-4430) offers six seven- to eight-week terms throughout the year, each featuring 350 to 450 classes. The center's subjects range from the liberal and creative arts to cooking and computers, with a wide range of health, fitness, and business offerings mixed in. The next two semesters begin on July 8 and September 9, although students may enter a course after the registration period, provided the class is not full.

Cambridge Center for Adult Education (42 Brattle Street, 547-6789) has five terms a year: winter, spring, summer, August, and fall. The August term this summer starts August 12 and lasts six weeks; the fall term runs 10 weeks starting September 23. The center has developed a wide array of computer courses and offers many dance, writing, and arts classes as well. In the special events category, note the annual fall wine-tasting, which serves as a fundraiser, and the series on "The Writer's Life," with panels of publishers, authors, and literary agents, held each spring.

Boston University Metropolitan College (755 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, 353-6000) offers two summer sessions as well as spring and fall evening classes. Summer session II runs July 2 to August 10; fall classes begin September 3. BU offers 36 different degree programs and offers adult students the chance to pursue graduate degrees part time in areas such as computer science and computer information systems.

Brandeis University (Mail Stop 084, Brandeis University, Waltham, 02254, 735-3424) features several summer programs. Among those for adults are Pendulum, for those 55 and older, which consists of two one-week themed programs, "Jewish Relations in the Modern World," July 14-19, and "Art and Politics in the Twentieth Century," July 21-26; this summer there will also be an intensive program in modern Hebrew, July 8 to August 2. Regular summer sessions have open admission; the second one runs from July 8 through August 9. The university is just beginning its formal continuing education program, but those interested should call in the fall for more information.

Harvard University Division of Continuing Education (51 Brattle Street, 495-4024) oversees both the Summer School and the Extension School. Special summer programs include archaeological studies at Koobi Fora, in Kenya, and the Ashkelon excavations in Israel. The Extension School, which offers a wide variety of degree and certificate options, begins its fall semester September 16, with exams ending January 22. Harvard also hosts the Institute for Learning in Retirement (495-4072), which encourages lifelong learning through seminars, classes, and discussion groups.

Tufts University's Office of Continuing and Professional Education (112 Packard Avenue, Medford, 02155, 627-3562) offers term-time classes in both fall and spring. Two sets of summer courses are offered through the Summer Session Office (108 Packard Avenue, 627-3454). The second summer session runs from July 10 through August 16; fall classes run from September 3 through December 19.

University of Massachusetts/Boston Division of Continuing Education (100 Morrissey Boulevard, 287-7900) offers hundreds of day and evening classes at both the graduate and undergraduate levels during its fall, summer, and spring terms. This autumn, classes run September 14 through December 21. The summer session, July 15 through August 22, appeals to students all around the area with off-campus classes at the Braintree and Copley Square campuses.

C.S.

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